A quilt commonly consists of three layers—a quilt top, quilt batting, and a quilt backing—bound together by an intricate stitching pattern. The top layer is often an artful patchwork of smaller fabric pieces. The batting is a layer of insulating material, such as cotton, polyester or wool. The backing may be a single piece of fabric.
Historically, the three layers were laboriously stitched together by hand, or by an ordinary sewing machine. In recent years, a specialized piece of equipment, the longarm quilting machine, has come into use, making the assembling of the three layers a much quicker and efficient process. The existence of the longarm quilting machine has led to a division of labor in which piecers, or sewists, prepare only the quilt top, which is handed off to a professional longarm quilter, who for a fee finishes it by binding it to batting and backing layers. The efficiency, speed and high quality of these quilt-finishing services have led to a surge of interest in quilting.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a longarm quilting machine comprises a longarm sewing machine 100 with handles 101, resting on table 106. The finished quilt 211 accumulates on a take-up roller 107, which is supported by supports 102. The top layer supply roll 212 unwinds from roller 108, which is supported by supports 103. The bottom layer supply roll 213 unwinds from roller 109, which is supported on supports 104. The batting layer supply roll 214 unwinds from roller 110, which is supported by supports 105.
The longarm sewing machine rests on wheels 210 which allow the longarm sewing machine to be moved towards and away from the operator, between the supply rollers 108, 109 and 110, and the take-up roller 107. Additional wheels allow travel in a transverse direction.
One problem plaguing existing longarm quilting machine is associated with the handling of the batting layer. Placing the batting insulation layer 207 as a roll 214 on roller 110 is problematical for two reasons. First, loading the batting onto the roller is difficult because batting is supplied in rolls, in which the batting has been folded over once before being rolled up. Secondly, and more importantly, batting is delicate with low tensile strength. This means that pulling batting off the roller, as it is fed to the sewing machine, can stretch, distort, or even tear it. Any excessive tension in the batting layer is likely to cause a distortion in the flatness of the overall quilt. At best, this causes more work for the longarm operator. At worst, it can damage the overall finished product.
Referring to FIG. 3, some longarm operators have resorted to simply letting the batting layer 207 hang down (311) to the floor, rather than rolling it onto the roller 110. This solves the problem of excessive tension, but of course the batting can pick up dirt or other debris from the floor, and the operator might step on it.
Therefore there is a need, which has not been addressed before the present, for a way to feed batting into a quilting machine without unduly tensioning it or allowing it to drag on the floor.